A
Nigerian businessman, James Onyike
has sued his wife, Patricia, a nurse based in the United Kingdom for allegedly
abandoning him and their children since 2008.

Onyike told a Cusomary Court in Garki,
Abuja, that “my wife secured a
one-year admission for further studies in the UK. I paid the tuition and
accommodation fees for the programme on the understanding that she would return
after one year. But on expiration of the programme, my wife decided to stay
back and enroll for another programme. On completion of her second course, she
refused to come back to Nigeria. I continued to beg her to return, but she
refused. Till date, she is still in London. She has practically abandoned me
and the children”, he said.

He
said his wife was abusive and conducted herself in a manner unexpected of a married
woman.

“When I visited her
in London, she was so hostile to me and the children. She never cared for the
children as a mother would. When I told her to try spending a little time with
the children, she told me that she does not have time and that I should look
after them. She kept avoiding me all through our stay, we never related like
husband and wife should. In fact, she even threw me out of her room”, he said.

Onyike said that the love, affection and
trust expected to exist between couples evaporated almost immediately after the
wedding.

Patricia Onyike, a nurse based in the United Kingdom

“On our wedding
day, my wife’s real father showed up, but my wife had lied to me that her
father was dead. She made me pay the bride price to someone whom she said was
her brother. Even when she visited Nigeria in 2010, though we stayed under the
same roof, she was always keeping to herself. She was no longer exhibiting that
motherly love and affection”,
he said.

Onyike prayed the court to dissolve the
marriage, grant him custody of the children and restrain his wife from entering
his home.

On
her part, Patricia, who was
represented by a counsel, Mrs Timitope
Joshua, said they had enjoyed love and affection for each other.

“There was never
any serious quarrel between us; he even encouraged me to travel for further
studies. When I finished the first course, he visited UK and encouraged me to
enroll for another course, which he said would make me a better qualified nurse”, she said.

She
said that her husband and the children always visited her in London on every
vacation, adding that “whenever they
could not make it, I visit”.

“I have never been
hostile in any of their visits. I try my best to take good care of them and we
stay together happily until the vacation is over. So, I am surprised to hear
that my husband has levelled these accusations against me,” she said.

Patricia said her husband never informed her
that he was no longer comfortable with her studies in the UK. She said she
still loved her husband and her two children. She also said that the marriage
had not broken down irretrievably and could be redeemed in the interest of the
children.

She
begged the court not to grant her husband’s prayers, adding that she was still
interested in the marriage.

The
Judge, Alhaji Suleiman Ismaila, gave
them four weeks to try and reconcile and adjourned the case to March 7.